My Canadian Road Trip, eh.

While I am working at a summer camp for most of the summer before my final move from Bilbao to Valencia, I’ll be taking some time to write about past holidays or experiences that haven’t been written about here.Mientras estoy trabajando en un campanento de verano (de inglés) durante la mayoria del verano antes de la mudanza final desde Bilbao a Valencia, estoy escribiendo una serie de entradas sobre vacaciones y/o experiencias del pasado que todavía no he escrito aquí.

When I was 16, my mom and I took one of my favourite road trips ever. A road trip through Canada. This is going on 18 years ago already, in the summer of 1998, so my memory may fail me. But this is what I remember. Cuando tenía 16 años, mi madre y yo fuimos de vacaciones de coche en uno de mis recuerdos preferidos. Conducimos por Canadá. Ya hace 18 años, era el verano de 1998, entonces, mi memoria no va a ser lo mejor.

Mac and Felicia just got married on General Hospital, and we were waiting for my mom’s car to be finished at the mechanic. They finally called us, and we left about 5 hours later than intended, about 5 in the evening. This put us behind for everything the entire trip. I was wanting to put my driver’s permit to use, but my mom nixed that idea. Mac y Felicia se habían casado en General Hospital, y estábamos esperando para arreglos del coche de mi madre en el mecánico. Por fin nos llamó, y nos marchamos unas 5 horas después de lo que habíamos pensado, sobre las 5 de la tarde. Eso significaba que íbamos con restraso todo el viaje. Quería usar mi permiso de aprender a conducir, pero mi madre no me dejó.

We stayed in Niagra Falls, which is about five hours from my Ohio home town. We had intended to get there to do the Maid of the Mist that day, but it was 10 in the evening when we got there. We saw the falls at night and caught the Maid of the Mist the next day. The rest of the trip we were playing catch up, it seemed. After the falls, we went straight for Toronto where we had tickets to see a musical known as Phantom of the Opera, which was playing at the Pantages Theatre. It was my first live musical not performed by my high school, and I still remember that night quite well. There was a fire alarm at our downtown hotel on Yonge Street. Nos alojamos en Niagra Falls, que está a unas 5 horas de mi casa en Ohio. Teníamos pensado hacer el crucero Maid of the Mist, pero llegamos a las 10 de la noche. Vimos las cascadas por la noche y cogemos el barco Maid of the Mist por la mañana el próximo día. El resto del viaje siempre llegamos tarde. Después de ver las Cascadas Niagra, fuimos a Toronto, donde tuvimos entradas para ver El fantasma de la Opera en el famoso Teatro Pantages. Era mi primer musical en director que no era de mi instituto, y recuerdo la noche bastante bien. Había un alarma de fuego en nuestro hotel en Calle Yonge en el centro de Toronto.

We had time to visit Casa Loma the next day. Casa Loma is a beautiful mansion built between 1911 and 1914 by Henry Pellatt. Due to debts in back taxes, the city seized the mansion in 1933 and was set to be destroyed until the Kiwani’s Club of Casa Loma took it over and turned it into a tourist destination. El día siguiente fuimos a ver Casa Loma, una casa muy grande construido entre 1911 y 1914 por Henry Pellatt. Dado a sus deudas, la ciudad de Toronto tomó control de la casa en 1933 y iba a destruirla hasta que el Club Kiwani’s de Casa Loma la compró y se la convertió a un destino turístico.

Then it was on to Montreal that evening. If I remember correctly, it was about six hours, and it was already night when we got there. We got up early on the next day and took a bus tour of the city and walked around a bit, but we didn’t see much as I wanted to see Quebec City, which is quite a drive from Montreal. We arrived so late to Quebec we didn’t even have time to get out of the car as my mom wanted to get to Maine that evening. Another late night, but we made it to Maine. Después fuimos a Montreal. Si recuerdo bien, el viaje duró unas seis horas, y ya era noche cuando llegamos. El próximo día nos madrugamos para coger un autobús turístico para ver la ciudad y paseamos un rato. No podemos ver mucho porque quería yo ver la Ciudad de Quebec, que está bastante lejos de Montreal. Llegamos tan tarde a Quebec que ni teníamos tiempo para salir de coche porque mi madre quería llegar a Maine. Otra noche tarde, pero llegamos a Maine.

The next day we drove down to Arcadia, which was one of my favourite places as a child and then through New Brunswick to the Bay of Fundy. I loved this place. We got there at low tide, thankfully, so we got to walk around a bit and see the amazing formations. But it was back to the car as my mom wanted to make to Halifax, Nova Scotia that night. El día siguiente fuimos a Arcadia, que era un destino preferido como un niño, y después a New Brunswick hasta el Bahía de Fundy. Me encantó. Llegamos durante marea baja, y podemos caminar por la playa y ver las formaciones preciosas. Pero el tiempo era corto porque mi madre quería llegar hasta Halifax, Nova Scotia, el mismo día.

We had two days in Halifax, and I fell in love with the city. We took a boat tour of the city, and I just loved sitting on the water people watching. I’ve always wanted to return to Halifax on my own. Éstabamos en Halifax durante dos días, y me encantó la ciudad. Fuimos en barco para ver la ciudad, y me encantó sentarme a lado del mar, viendo la gente. Siempre he querido volver a Halifax desde entonces.

The next day was Sunday, I believe, and we went to Prince Edward Island, crossing the newly opened Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The bridge is 12,9 km long (8 miles), and the toll is paid crossing from the island to the mainland. I don’t remember much about the island other than the bridge and visting the House of Anne of Green Gables for my mom. El día siguiente era domingo, creo, y fuimos a la Isla de Princípe Eduardo (Prince Edward Island), cruzando el puente de Confederación que conecta la Isla a New Brunswick. El puente es 12,9 kilometros de longitud y solo paga el peaje por la vuelta a New Brunswick. No recuerdo mucho de la isla, solo el puente y visitando la Casa de Anne de Green Gables para mi madre.

We drove on back to Maine that day, and the next day was a long, long day crossing New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylavania. I am pretty sure we did it all in one day, but we may have stopped somewhere in upstate New York. Volvimos a Maine este día, y el próximo día era muy, muy largo, cruzando New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nueva York (estado) y Pensilvania. Creo que lo hicimos en solo un día, pero puede ser que paramos en el estado de Nueva York.

My family holidays were always like this as a child. Driving as far as we can in a week and seeing what we could, but never staying in a place long enough to get a true feel for it. It has taken living in Spain for me to learn how to stop and smell the roses. I may sometimes do a place in one day that deserves more than a day trip, or rush through a village, but I am learning to take my time to savour the essence of a place. Las vacaciones de mi juventud siempre eran así. Conducimos a un sitio bastante lejos en solo una semana y viendo lo que pudimos pero nunca nos quedamos en un sitio durante un tiempo suficiente para conocerlo bien. Ahora que he vivido en España he aprendido ir más despacio para conocer un sitio mejor. A veces voy de excursión de un día a un sitio que merece más tiempo, o no tengo tiempo suficiente para ver un pueblo, pero estoy aprendiendo disfrutar conocer un sitio con tiempo.

Thanks to Bruce for allowing me to use some of his shots and for his continued support of Setmeravelles! I have no clue where my photos from 1998 are. Gracias a Bruce para permitirme usar sus fotos y su apoyo de Setmeravelles. No tengo ni idea donde están las fotos de 1998.

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6 thoughts on “My Canadian Road Trip, eh.”

Thanks for posting this delightful reflection on your travels through Canada. I know what you mean about stopping to smell the roses. It’s a tough call when you have to choose between seeing half a dozen awesome sites in a surface-level way, or one or two awesome sites in a deep way. Generally, I opt for the latter, but if I ever visit Europe again, it may be hard to avoid the former. Maybe there’s a compromise in between the two.

What a great post. There are many people who want to ‘do’ places and visit as many places as possible. I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with this but like you say, it is really cool to be able to savour a place and really get under its skin. Canada is a beautiful country. My aunt and her family live in Vancouver Island and I would one day love to spend some proper time in this country